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Headteacher
Chris Coyle-Chislett

Email the Office
secretary@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk

Telephone Number
01736 753472

Follow us on Twitter
@PenpolSchool

Our Address
2 St George’s Road, Hayle,
Cornwall, TR27 4AH

“Penpol pupils are curious, creative and courageous learners. Our school community believes in authenticity as the foundations of deep-rooted learning. Through our rich and relevant curriculum, we nurture community-minded, forward-facing international citizens of the future.”

Year 1 love programming their own Angry Birds!

This half term Year 1 have been learning the basics of coding by giving instructions to the popular ‘Angry Birds’ characters.  In order to help these birds reach their target (the green piggies!) the children have to give them the correct directional instructions to move along the level.  These instructions start off quite simply, but before long the children are giving twelve step answers to get the bird to the target.

“I love how happy the bird is when he gets to the pig!” – Penny, Class 3

An example level from halfway through the Angry Birds puzzles

Using perseverance, logical thinking and imagination the Year 1’s have shown a huge amount of Learning to Learn skills and have proven that just because something is difficult at first they don’t need to give up.  Practice makes perfect and solving these puzzles has helped instil a real love of learning in a lot of these children.

Super Sabina shows she is a Gymnastic Genius!

Fantastically talented Sabina and her team from Penzance Gymnastic Club won a brilliant bronze in her first ever Vault and Floor Competition.

I felt a tiny bit nervous and a little bit shy – Sabina

She may have been a little bit nervous but this did not stop Sabina doing her very best. Taking part in the 5 to 6 year old category, Sabina did incredibly well, competing against five other teams from all over Cornwall.

For my routine I had to do a sit and tuck, roll my arms backwards, do a forward roll and then I finished in a lunge in a wide shape – Sabina

Sabina loves gymnastics and we are very proud of her achievements. Well done Sabina!

Amelie Wins a Medal at a Gymnastics Competition

Amelie from class 4 came to school today with some very exciting news. She had taken part in a gymnastics competition at her local club in Penzance on Sunday and walked away with a medal! Amelie goes to Penzance gymnastics club and took part in a competition for floor and vault at level 7. She and 4 other girls aged between 5 and 7, competed as a group and were awarded a bronze medal. 45 gymnasts from her group took part, so Amelie was delighted to come away with a medal. Amelie was kind enough to show us some of her floor routine. Take a look…

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I go to gymnastics on Mondays and Fridays. I go for 2 hours on a Monday and an hour and half on Friday. I do conditioning on Friday, that’s where I do lots of stretching and I do lots of strength training. I do bars and chin ups as well. I want a chin up bar for my birthday.

I showed everyone how to do my vault.

My favourite move in gymnastics is the splits. It’s quite hard and I have been practicing a lot. I also like doing headstands and I practice at home on the sofa.

Class 4 have an Art Attack!

Class 4 love art! They have been having great fun investigating materials in their art lessons and have been making metal sculptures using everyday objects including cheese graters, cutlery, tin cans, mixing bowls and anything else they can get their hands on! Check out their fantastic owl creations!

 I love the metal feather bits on your owl Lily. Can I help? – Alfie

Evie and Sienna are really happy with the way their owls are turning out. They are using jam jar lids for the eyes and sticking on squashed foil cases and beads. They’re looking great.

I like my owl. I want to take it home and show my mum. – Tyler

Ada and Flora help each other choose the best buttons and beads to stick on to the wings.

I love my owl. I brought in my sieve and my whisk from home and Mrs Anthoney helped me stick all the bits together. – Zak

I am really happy and so proud of the children. They put in a lot of hard work and were very creative. I think their owls look fantastic! – Miss Ryan

Owl Facts

  1. Owls live in barns, trees, old buildings and tunnels.
  2. Owls eat mice, rats, birds, raccoons, skunks, snakes, squirrels and other small mammals.
  3. Owls can’t digest bones, fur or feathers so they spit it out.
  4. Owls have sharp beaks that they use to shred their food.
  5. Owls grab their ‘prey’ with their sharp claws.
  6. Owls don’t make any sound when they fly.
  7. Owls camouflage themselves in the trees.

Reading Super Stars

A huge congratulations to Bruce, Zak and Ted from Class 4. They decided to take on the reading challenge in class 4 – to read as often as you can at home and climb the reading ladder. The boys successfully reached the top of the ladder by half term and all received a book of their choice. A fantastic effort boys, well done!

Miss Ryan set us a challenge. You had to read at home every night and if you did, you would climb up the reading ladder. I was the first one to get to the top and I got a prize. I was really happy. I read 39 times at home and I was star of the week.

 

 

 

À bientôt chère Michèle!

We were all very sad to say farewell to Michèle our amazing French teacher after 16 years of fun French lessons in all classes throughout the school. Michèle managed to encourage children to speak French with confidence by participating in relaxed games, songs, plays and even a fashion show.

I liked the funny french monster book – Lylie.

At this years Harvest Festival Michèle took centre stage while everyone sang “Fraise et Fromboise” her own song about our love of fruit. The children looked forward to her lessons and she will be sorely missed.

Thank you for teaching us about colours and numbers – Imogen.

 

We loved the french songs – Louis.

The health and wellbeing of all our pupils is a priority at Penpol school. All infants are provided with a free healthy snack each day and given plenty of opportunities to exercise and keep fit. We start the day with “Wake up shake up” and regularly jump, climb and roll.

I can hang on to the ladder. I am brave and strong – Ethan.

 

I can climb up the rope – Teddy.

Learning is fun in Year 1

We started the year with an exciting class outing to the Hall for Cornwall in Truro. We were lucky enough to see the amazing story of the ‘Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson on the stage and joined in with some of the narration remembered from the book.

I liked the fox when he growled and ran away. Harvey

We visited the cathedral and walked to Victoria Gardens to eat our picnic lunch.

I liked the high ceiling and the windows in the cathedral. Hazel

 

I liked lighting the candle in the cathedral. Myla

We finished the day having great fun in Hendra play park and travelled back to school on the double decker bus.

I liked it when we went in the park. Safi

Back at school the children have produced excellent writing and art work inspired by the Gruffalo story. Mr Jones has even taught them a Gruffalo song!

I liked it on the bus when i was at the top. Felix

Class 4 are on the Move

Class 4 have been practicing some super skills in P.E. They have been finding out about different ways of moving and practicing how to roll, twist, climb, balance, jump and swing. Amelie and Oliver explain how to do the perfect forward roll…

First of all you have to stand up straight and put your hands in the air. Then put your chin to your chest. Keep your legs together and bend your knees. – Amelie

 

You have to bend down and put your hands on the floor. Put your head on the floor as well. Then push with your legs and roll. – Oliver

Great rolling everyone. Our next step is to practice finishing our forward roll in a standing position.

 

Zak, Ada, Violet, Harry, Corey and Riley have been practicing different ways of travelling across the poll. Riley is good at pulling himself along while dangling. Ada is great at balancing her whole body on top of the poll and sliding along slowly. Corey has been showing all of his friends how to spin upside down. Great skills everyone.

P.E is one of my favourite lessons. I am really good at climbing and balancing. I like to do all kinds of things in P.E, especially swinging on the ropes. – Caio

I like swinging on the rings and I like climbing across the ladder. I think I’m good at P.E. – Sienna

 

I’m good at P.E. I like climbing and I like the hoops. I like going up the ladder and climbing to the top. I want to learn how to do a forward roll backwards. – Ted

 

 

Celebrating European Day of Languages at Penpol

Today marks the European Day of Languages, a day to celebrate the 6000+ languages spoken around the world.  To mark the occasion at Penpol we’ve arranged a special non-uniform day where the children came to school dressed in the colours of their favourite flag.

Even more excitingly, Mr Emery and Mr Woolcock have arranged an entire day of language-learning challenges in the Junior Mac Suite for the entire school to participate in.

Throughout the day each class has had a twenty minute session using a fantastic website called Linguascope, where the children can take on their challenge in any one of nine different languages.  While most children chose French, Spanish or Italian we did have lots who were really brave and decided to take on languages including Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

The challenge itself was a multiple choice quiz where the time for each question decreases as the rounds go by.  A score of 30 or more is considered exceptional, yet Penpol pupils were often reaching the high thirties with several children achieving a nearly impossible 38 points!

With perseverance, accuracy and linguistic knowledge a mighty 38 or 39 points is achievable.  It’s incredibly difficult, but today we’ve seen it happen several times! – Mr Emery

The highest score in each year group will win a special prize, with more details to be given to the children in their next assembly.

Reception: To be announced later this week!

Year 1: To be announced later this week!

Year 2: To be announced later this week!

Year 3: Freddie (38 points)

Year 4: Jake (39 points)

Year 5: Emma (40 points)

Year 6: Aidan (38 points)

I’m really happy that I’ve won, Morgan did really well too but I just managed to beat him in the end by one point!! – Connor, Year 2

 

 

 

 

Languages lift off at Penpol

Language lessons at Penpol primary school are already underway as we begin the new academic year.  All classes have already enjoyed their first French lesson this year, with both Mr Emery and Michelle.  Every student has already demonstrated lots of enthusiasm and eagerness to take part, which are key ingredients to having fun and gaining confidence in learning a language.

Reception students have already mastered the action “tire”(pull) and the different animals in French.  Classes 1 + 2 very much enjoyed dressing up and acting out the classic French children’s story, “le navet enorme”(the giant turnip).  Classes 3, 4, 5 + 6 are already enjoying being able to greet each other in French, with lots of students even making it part of their daily routine to greet Mr Emery in French outside the classroom.

 

Years 2 all the way to 5 have already taken part in singing “Alouette” ( the classic French song about a skylark), showing excellent knowledge of the body parts in French, with actions.

I loved learning about the giant turnip – Hunter – Class 2

Year 6 have the unique opportunity of putting all of the French they have used over the years to the ultimate test: corresponding with their very own French pen pal from a French primary school.  The small school, situated just outside of Paris, have already expressed their excitement about this exchange and are eager to learn more about our Year 6 students.  Watch this space for more news, as Penpol students learn more about French culture and way of life.

With language club now up and running every Thursday, students at Penpol also have the opportunity of learning another language, whether it is extra French practice, or learning numbers 1-10 in Mandarin.

Finally, Penpol school will be celebrating European Day of Languages on Tuesday 26th September, with all students competing in a whole school languages competition.  The competition will be run by Mr Emery, with the aid of Penpol’s ICT teacher, Mr Woolcock.  The aim will be for students to show-off their foreign language skills, ranging from French to Mandarin.  The winners for each Year group will be rewarded with a prize in an assembly to conclude the action-packed day.

Watch this space for more news from languages over the next few weeks!